As said by so many before, Never Let Your Firewall or Anti-virus Down!!

*Shakes head*

my words of wisdom my friend
passwords, firewall , anti-virus software , Common sense

Edit: Barzul knurlan! i need to type slower


Edited by - The Shroud on 3/30/2006 8:02:10 PM

If you haven't installed a plethora of anti virus, firewalls (all free) anti spyware, and let them regularly scan things and attachements - then what do you expect?

As with anything though, you can only do so much. The best security and barriers are only as good as the people running them. If they're dumb, stupid, ignorant or plain gullable, then they will always suffer such issues. If it's a family member doing illegal activities such as music sharing, then tell your parents - uninstall the software, activate admin account so they cannot install things, restrict their access to areas etc. Just tell your parents that 17500 people have so been issued with summons and fines of around $4000 for downloading music/movies - and maybe they'll take action

I didn't think .mp3 files could contain viruses. I've been downloading music for years and haven't got a single virus from it yet.

it's usually rubbish off Kazaa and WinMX - quite often the files aren't what they're claimed to be, they've just got .mp3 extensions.

or dual extensions like *.mp3.exe

Personally, i use an extensive collection of firewalls, ranging from personal software, two NAT hardware firewalls (Two of those, installed on different routers), to a DMZ relay pointing to a null address (effectivley rendering me invisible).

My suggestion: Firewall, Antivirus(Preferably two of each, but one will do), at LEAST 3 Anti-spyware programs, a hardware firewall (Especially if you are on broadband or cable, your modem should have one of these integrated) set to only allow specific outbound ports.
This should protect you from all but the most serious threats.

But remember, the most threatening hacker is one that is sitting in front of your terminal. So, if you are sure that you are not the one causing these problems, simbly refuse access to those that do cause the problems until they can learn how to PROPERLY use a computer.

Note: Some high-end companies actually have SELF-DESTRUCT charges in thier computers to prevent physical tampering and hacking with the systems. talk about extreme...

I did once have a filesharing program, and when you did a search you would find tons of results - all the same size, around 1024kb...

I think they were adverts that people disguised as files (regardless of search, they would turn up named correctly for your search result which highlighted something fishy), but maybe they were something more sinister.

I did hear that most game "cracks" that get downloaded (key generators especially) have a trojan piggybacked on the software - so the user who downloads a game/software and uses the keycrack, ends up with a trojan on their system.

heh, serves them right, cheating on our games. It's the Counterstrike of counterstrike